Muslim reaction to Gansler veil opinion
The president of the Baltimore chapter of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee acknowledges that security guards might have a legitimate reason to ask people to remove facial coverings. But he is also urging respect in the wake of an opinion by Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler that deputy sheriffs can require visitors to remove such coverings before allowing them to enter a courthouse.
“This is really about personal identify and religious freedom,” Bash Pharoan tells Laura Smitherman in today’s Baltimore Sun. “A woman who wears the hijab is obeying the call of God.”
Gansler, responding to a request from the office of Prince George’s County Sheriff Michael Jackson, has opined that deputies could require a visitor to remove a mask, veil or other face covering “without regard to whether the individual claims a religious basis for remaining masked or veiled,” as long as the sheriff’s office has a “neutral and generally applicable policy of requiring removal of face coverings for security purposes.”
The opinion is not binding, but represents the “considered opinion” of the attorney general's office following research and review of the legal issues raised by the question, according to a spokeswoman. Jackson’s office had asked if a deputy sheriff assigned to court security could require an individual to remove a covering, whether it matters if the individual asserts a religious reason for remaining covered, and what procedures would be appropriate to enforce such a requirement while demonstrating respect for religious practice.
Gansler wrote that “it would be useful” if security details included both male and female officers and a private space were available for “those individuals whose religion discourages removal of a head covering in public.”
A spokesman for Jackson’s office told Smitherman that officials were seeking guidance after deputies heard of cases concerning Muslim women in other jurisdictions.
"Nothing happened locally," Sgt. Mario Ellis said. "We were just trying to be proactive and get an answer before this issue comes up here."
Comments
In the West assaults, murders, rapes and robberies are committed by men or women in masks. By wearing a mask perpetrators not only can elude detection by victims but also by surveillance cameras.
Who is to say men will not pick the hijab as the perfect garb for commission of crimes? Respect for religion should not play into the hands of criminals neither should it impede law enforcement.
The individual rights of Muslim women to obey the call of their religion should be balanced against the collective rights of people to be safe in public places especially during these dangerous times when creative criminals can outwit security measures to inflict property damage or mass casualties.
The hijab doesn't always conceal the face but it can be worn like a facial mask. In the Middle East this concealment is a sign of modesty and religious humility. In the West it is a sign of furtiveness and suspicious behavior, not without reason.
Notice that Muslim men are the first to take up this issue as a cause celebre more than Muslim women who are the actual ones affected. This is because Muslim women are reasonable and will submit to a security search done privately by female security officers if it will assuage public fears.
Muslim leaders must yield a little on this one without making a brouhaha to suggest if a Muslim woman removes her veil for security purposes once in a while, her Muslim identity and religious freedom would be permanently violated and she would be scoring bad points with her God. That is more religious blackmail than religious reality.
Common sense at large
Posted by: Anonymous | June 8, 2009 10:14 AM
Anonymous you are a disgrace. I question your belief that the hijab or veil can be used as a mask or other garb to commit crimes. If you haven't already noticed or if you don't live on another planet, individuals who commit crimes such as robbing a grocerie store always wear a balaclava or head covering to conceal their identities. Labelling the hijab in the West as a sign of furtiveness and suspicious behaviour reflects bad on you and shows that you are insecure. If you are so fearfull of women wearing a veil or hijab then why don't you look at the fact that there are more guns in the USA then people. So who are you more likely to be hurt by? A gun or by a woman wearing a hijab? Do you expect Muslim men not to have a voice when their women are targeted.I wonder how other people would react if their women were attacked? I don't think they would site idlly by. I agree with the rulling but it must be done in accordance with respect for religion and not be used as an instrument of discrimination. Can anonymous find any evidence to show that Muslim women wearing a hijab are on the rampage in Baltimore? I think it is a case of anonoymous trying to create an issue out of nothing. I disagree with annonymous due to blatantly stupid arguments put forward.
Posted by: Goksel Doganay | June 9, 2009 6:16 AM
Anything that conceals the face in these times can be used to rob or attack people. Yes, you are more likely to be hurt by gun wielders and you will probably never be hurt by a woman wearing a hijab--but you could be hurt by criminal elements carrying guns who masquerade as all sorts of people with facial coverings that resemble the hijab. You will again insist this isn't true and give me chapter and verse about the types of facial coverings used by criminals being very different from the hijab and describe the searches as an excuse for law enforcement to harass Muslims in general and hijab wearers in particular. I respectfully disagree. I believe law enforcement's dilemma about the matter is genuine. Muslim women are more reasonable voices for their faith and their beliefs in my opinion. Nevertheless I do understand and agree that chivalry and caring are also reasons for Muslim men to advocate for their women. I do not espouse searches that violate a Muslim woman's modesty. In fact I think the hijab is lovely and many of my friends wear it. At the same time I think criminals can use anything for their own purpose--this is not a comment on the hijab as much as it is a comment on the criminals-- and if security officials have decided that a respectful search of hijab wearers to ensure security in public places is essential, the cooperation of the Muslim community in this matter, I am sure would work out well.
Posted by: Anonymous | June 9, 2009 11:27 AM
A such hijab (with rabbit ears on it, for kids), is it haram ?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_94Oa4WVKNc
Posted by: Nadia | July 2, 2009 4:52 PM